We
can tell you how to print your stationery perfectly, but perhaps the most
important lesson is to always test on a piece of plain paper cut to the
envelope’s size first. Be sure to draw a flap on your test envelope
so you know how to feed a real one into your printer. Once you’ve
mastered your printer, test on one envelope first before printing a batch
of them.

The
second lesson is to get to know your printer a bit better. There are
many different printers available today, and they have some very key
differences that affect how you will print your envelopes. Once you
get to know your printer and determine which settings to use, you’ll
find that printing envelopes is a snap.

We recommend you do a few test prints to determine exactly which settings
are correct for your printer, and then you’ll be ready to print
perfect envelopes with ease.

First,
determine if your printer is a top-feed where you place your
paper in an upright position above the printer, like Epson, Canon or
Lexmark printers, or a bottom-feed where your paper is laying
in a tray below your printer, like an HP.

-------------------- Top-Feed Printers --------------------

When you look at your top-feed printer, you’ll see that there are
adjustable guides within the input tray. These hold smaller pieces of
paper straight as they’re being fed into the printer. You’ll
notice that
one of the guides can move to adjust to different paper and envelope
sizes, whereas the other guide remains stationary. On most top-feed printers,the
left guide is movable and the paper is aligned to the right guide, so
they need the Paper Alignment setting in the Print window
set to Right. When printing in landscape mode they need the Landscape
Rotation set to Left

Movable Guide

If
the envelope width (measured holding envelope with the flap on top) is
less than 8.5" wide, you can choose Portrait in the Print window and feed the envelope with the flap closed, placing the top edge
of the envelope into the printer first. To print the address, have the
flap facing away from you. For the return address, have the flap facing
towards you.

portrait(flap facing away)

If
you have the latest version of PrintingPress software, you are able to print both the address and the return address
on the back in one pass as long as the envelope is less than 8.5”
wide. To do so, open the envelope flap and feed with the bottom of the
envelope first, making sure that the front of the envelope is facing you.
Choose Print Front and Back in One Pass in the Print window.

one-pass

If
the envelope is wider than 8.5" as with a #10 envelope or an outer
envelope for a wedding invitation, you need to print in landscape mode.
First choose Landscape in the Print window. Then be sure
to feed the envelope with the flap closed, placing the left edge of the
envelope into the printer first so that the envelope’s flap is behind
the envelope on the left side. Remember to set the Landscape Rotation setting in the Print window.

Landscape(flap facing away)

-------------------- Bottom-Feed Printers --------------------

It’s more difficult to access the movable paper guides on your bottom-feed
printer, but once you find them you’ll see that the movable guide
is on the left and the paper is aligned to the right side of the printer.
Even though this is the same as a top-feed printer, because the paper
is coming from below, bottom-feed ink jets usually need Paper Alignment set to Right and Landscape Rotation set to Right.

Movable Guide

Because
of the ‘bent’ paper path, envelopes (especially smaller ones)
tend to feed better and have fewer smudges when printed in landscape mode.
Generally, bottom-feed printers are fed with the side you want to print
on face down. Please note that most laser printers require the paper
to be fed face up.

Feeding envelopes
in the landscape mode varies from printer to printer. Some bottom-feed
printers require the envelope flap to be on the left and some require
it to be on the right. Test your printer to see which side is the “top”
in landscape mode.

To print
addresses, feed the envelopes with the flap facing you and on the side
you determined as the “top” , Remember to set the Landscape
Rotation setting in the Print window. To print the return
address, feed the envelopes with the flap facing down.

If
you have the latest version of PrintingPress software, you are able to print both the address and the return address
on the back in one pass as long as the envelope is less than 8.5”
wide. The envelopes should be printed in portrait mode with the bottom of
the envelope fed first, the flap open and face down. Choose Portrait and Print Front and Back in One Pass in the Print window.

one-pass

-------------------- General Tips for All Printers --------------------

Keep
it tall and wide
When printing on smaller pieces of paper and envelopes, the rollers
that grip the paper work better when the paper is taller than it is
wide. For this reason, even with top-feed printers it is best to feed
smaller envelopes in landscape mode.

Do
it in one pass
To avoid the print heads getting caught on the envelope flaps while
printing return addresses in landscape mode, print the front and back
in one pass. Upgrade
the latest version of PrintingPress to use this feature. You can also try
printing the envelope in portrait mode.

Know
your load
Different printers have different bulk capacities, so be careful not
to exceed yours. If you stack too many envelopes into the feed tray,
your printer may have difficulty grabbing a single envelope and may
feed several at a time. Bottom-feed printers tend to work better with
at least five envelopes in the tray at a time. To avoid mis-feeds, keep
it loaded.

Through
thick or thin
Many printers have a “thickness” or “envelope”
switch that will allow thicker papers and envelopes to feed better.
You may want to try playing with this switch to learn what works best
for your printer. Older printers have a manual switch on the printer
itself. Newer printers allow you to specify a paper type in the printer’s Properties dialog.

Quality
Counts
Experiment with the print quality settings in your printer’s Properties
dialog. You usually want a high quality, but sometimes it will put too
much ink onto the paper and cause the letters to bleed.

Vellum
caveat
Only vellum specifically designed for an inkjet printer will yield positive
printouts. Otherwise, a laser printer works best with vellum.

Check out tips on downloading projects, borderless printing and more in our Newsletter
Notes section.